海南罗汉松 hai nan luo han song

Trees to 16 m tall; trunk to 1 m d.b.h.; bark pale grayish brown. Foliage buds globose; scales wholly overlapping, blunt at apex, primary scales triangular, secondary scales rounded. Leaves radially spreading; petiole 2-4 mm; blade linear-lanceolate or linear, occasionally elliptic-lanceolate, distally tapered, 4-10.5(-18) cm × 5-11(-20) mm, 8-10 × as long as wide, thick, leathery, midvein raised on both surfaces, stomatal bands abaxial, 3.8-4.5 mm wide, base attenuate, apex obtuse or subacute. Pollen cones solitary, occasionally in clusters of 2 or 3, subsessile, pale yellow, spikelike, 3-5 cm. Seed-bearing structures axillary, solitary; peduncle 2-10 mm. Receptacle orange-red when ripe, obconical-ellipsoid, somewhat flattened distally, equaling or slightly longer than seed. Epimatium dark bluish purple and glaucous when ripe. Seed ovoid, 8-10 × ca. 6 mm, not crested. Pollination Mar-Apr, seed maturity Sep-Oct.

Tropical montane rainforests, evergreen broad-leaved forests on laterite and granitic yellow-earth; 600-1600 m. Hainan (Lingshui Xian, Wuzhi Shan) [E Myanmar, Vietnam]

A vulnerable species in China; only a few trees now remain in unexploited forests in S Hainan. The wood is excellent for carving and making writing materials and musical instruments. Podocarpus annamiensis has recently been considered a synonym of P. neriifolius by N. T. Hiep & J. E. Vidal (Fl. Cambodge, Laos et Vietnam 28: 105. 1996).